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Well, this is the first blog post that I'm publishing after 2 months. I'm really sorry about the absence of updates and news as i was really busy with University academics and AIESEC work. This post is about the Astronomy camp that we conducted for the Asian International School (AIS) last 18th of March

I'm now gonna blog about an event that we had in our University almost 2 months back. I'm really sorry guys for dragging this such longer due to the busy schedule I've been undergoing last few months due to various reasons. Hope you don't mind me sharing in so late. Anyway here it is...

The most awaited total solar eclipse of the year 2010 is about to take place in less than next 20 hours from now. There have been a lot of groups/ individuals flocked at South Pacific islands and Chilean territories right now waiting for the eclipse to take place.

As the title of this post hints, there were lot of countries involved in this worldwide celebration during 2009, which was the 400th anniversary of both the discovery of telescope for astronomical observation by Galileo Galilei and the publication of “Astronomia Nova” by Johannes Kepler. These were the reasons which were prominent in specifying 2009 as the IYA.

I have already made a post about Fiami, and his great gift that I received during the Christmas season. I got many great feedback on that and even my friends wanted to read it, as none of them had the comic book with them, So I thought of doing a youtube video featuring Fiami

The Blog Has Moved !

Saturday, January 14, 2012

It was a kick-start for the year 2012 for the astro-enthusiasts of University of Colombo as Mathematical and Astronomical Society of the university put together a lecture and an observation session focused on sun spots last week. 06th of January 2012 saw the astro folks gathering at the Department of Physics for a lecture conducted by Dr Chandana Jayaratne followed by a session of sun spot observation a bit later on afterward the lecture.

One of the advantages, living somewhere closer to equator, I think would be to have the sun light whole year, allowing yourself to play with the sun, and you have to make sure this is a very careful game. However although the telescope available was not that powerful, many were able to observe the sun and identify some sun spots on solar surface.

The lecture and observation session were well-attended highlighting the interest that the students had, although not everybody had their courses to do with physics.

Caution : Always use filters or similar competent equipment when observing the sun as it can cause irreversible damage to the eye.

Dr Gayandhi De Silva, a Sri Lankan astronomer working at Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO) has returned home and is currently in Sri Lanka, Thus I had the pleasure of meeting her physically, although we've been known to each other since some time following some astronomy project I was involved back then. I was a fan of her blog when she was writing for Cosmic Diary during IYA 2009. I think I was late to hear this news as I just got back to Sri Lanka last week after a period of 2 months in Europe, but I am glad that I was not too late.

Apparently Dr Gayandhi delivered a lecture on Galactic Archaeology last Thursday 12th January 2012 at University of Moratuwa premises. I wanted to attend the lecture and not to miss the chance of meeting her there and was also curious about the topic as well. But I also had an obligatory test to sit for at University during the same time, which prevented me from attending the lecture, However later that day I had the chance of meeting her at Dr. Kavan's place for lunch, I also met other astronomy friends there which was nice, and shared a lot of busy chats as I've been out of contact with them during last 2 months when I was away.

From what I heard Dr Gayandhi is presently being involved with some key project at AAO, where she leads a team in building some scientific equipment to get some information through spectroscopes. I wish all the best for her work and bon voyage when she flies back home..

I'm Prasanna Deshapriya, currently following my Master degree in Space Applications at USTH in Vietnam. I've graduated from University of Colombo with my Bachelor degree in Physical Science. I'm also an amateur astronomer, gazing at the skies to better discover the universe. Furthermore I voluntarily work as the NPoC of SGAC for Sri Lanka and engage myself in popularization of astronomy & space science during my free time.